


Distraction

by fuckthenaysayers



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: M/M, Violence, just a bit, street michael au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-30
Updated: 2014-04-30
Packaged: 2018-01-21 10:48:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1547930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fuckthenaysayers/pseuds/fuckthenaysayers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Michael turned to watch him and froze in place as he saw his five lovers standing at the sidewalk with gaping looks. Panting quietly, he wiped at the blood he felt trickling down his chin and smiled a little, knowing there was no way to get out of this.</p><p>"Hey."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Distraction

There were times when it seemed like it'd always been. He'd find himself just spacing out on the sidewalk as people brushed past him, the natural hum of the downtown streets invading his very core. The smell of exhaust and food carts, the buzz of people talking and cars speeding by. The blur of face after unfamiliar face going past him, some ignoring him and a few shooting him dirty looks for blanking out in the middle of the sidewalk. It was almost enough to make him forget and bring him back to what he had been.

But then something would stop him. Or rather, someone. The distraction usually came from one of five forms, and this time, it seemed to be Jack.

"Michael? C'mon, we gotta keep moving to catch our movie!"

The older man smiled kindly at him, an arm slipping around Michael's waist and suddenly there he was again. Not in the middle of Trenton, wandering around Stuyvesant Avenue, but here in Austin, hundreds of miles between him and his old stomping grounds. He wasn't hanging with skeevy guys with names like Snake or The Duke, he was with the kindest men he'd ever known in his life. Gavin, Ray, Jack, Ryan, and Geoff. Most of them were just ahead of him and Jack, Gavin jumping about excitedly and hurrying to get in line, the rest of them slowly joining him.

"You excited to watch your first movie, Michael?"

Gavin asked with a goofy grin, Michael flushing with embarrassment and pulling away from Jack to punch the Brit in the arm.

"I've seen movies before, asshole! ... Just not a lot of them."

"Jeez, alright don't be so touchy, I'm just joking. So have you actually been to a theater before?"

Michael took a moment to think, laughing a bit as he recalled the one time he'd gone before.

"Yeah! Now that I think about it, there was one time when me and Wall snuck into this shitty little theater to watch this kickass action movie marathon they were doing. We stayed there all fucking day, just ducked into the bathroom between movies and didn't get caught until like the sixth movie. And Wall just picked the fucking the movie walker guy-"

"Usher."

"Usher, thanks Rybread. Yeah, he just picked the usher up and put him headfirst into the trash can and we just booked it out before anyone else even noticed."

Michael's grin faded a bit as he noticed the strange looks the older guys were giving him, though Gavin and Ray were laughing into their hands as they pictured the scene. His grin turned to a sheepish smile, suddenly feeling guilty for his past, a feeling he'd felt more and more since he started living with the other men.

"I-I mean the guy wasn't hurt or nothin, lotsa popcorn and sodas to cushion him."

"I'm still stuck on the fact that you hung out with a guy called Wall."

Ryan mumbled, the group laughing together, Michael's grin returning as Ryan seemed to judge him more for his friend's name than what he'd done.

"Nah, you'd completely get it if you had met the guy. He was fucking huge, even taller than you, by like at least a few inches. And he was super broad, widest shoulders you'll ever see in your goddamn life, when he was still in school he was like a godsend to the football team. Put him in a gray shirt you'd swear you're staring at a fucking concrete wall."

"Sounds like quite a character."

"Yeah, he was great."

None of them failed to catch Michael saying he 'was' great, rather than is, and the almost bittersweet look on his face. The conversation died out without Michael noticing the awkwardness, Geoff stepping up to the little booth in front of the theater and buying their tickets, the group heading inside after.

They went straight for the snack bar, Michael trailing at the back with his hands shoved in his pockets as his eyes took in the scene. He could hear the other men discussing something but he had little interest until Ray nudged him a bit to get his attention.

"Michael? Did you hear me?"

"Sorry, sorry. What did you say?"

"I asked if you wanted to get the number 5 combo with me. We can share the popcorn and each get a drink if that's cool."

"Um...sure. Sure, that's fine, mountain dew for me please."

Ray nodded and relayed their order to the cashier who got to work grabbing everything for them. Michael was suddenly left with the bucket of popcorn held to his chest, holding it with one hand as the other held his drink. Ray and Ryan went to grab napkins and straws while Geoff and the others headed to get into the theater, Michael following behind quietly, not quite recalling how theaters worked. Geoff handed their tickets to the employee in front of them, the man ripping them in half and giving Geoff the stubs back before stepping aside, the six men heading past him and into the theater with the number 4 glowing on a sign above it.

They'd come rather early, Jack insistent that they do the matinee so they could go out for lunch or something afterwards too. As a result, they were the only ones in the theater, giving them free range of where to sit. Gavin and Ray hurriedly clambered to the very last row, declaring that to be the best spot. The gents shrugged and followed, Michael following behind Jack. Gavin and Ray left a spot between them for him, Michael scooting by with his hands full and slumping into the chair with a little 'oomph'.

Gavin talked all the way through the trailers, only shutting up when Geoff threatened to choke him with popcorn once the lights began to dim. They'd decided on an action movie, one of the few genres they all agreed on enjoying. None of them had done much searching about the movie, not wanting to spoil anything, but suddenly five of them felt incredibly remorseful for that, as street and gang fighting turned out to be a major part. Thankfully, Michael didn't seem bothered by it, instead he was almost mesmorized by the skillful scenes and over the top explosions, loving almost every moment of it.

When they left, Michael was the main one talking, beaming as he recalled his favorite moments and scenes with Gavin and Ray, the gents being a bit too quiet, still unsure about their choice.

"Are there a lotta movies out there like that? That was pretty fucking cool, I wanna see more."

Ryan spoke up.

"Maybe another day I'll make a list for you, but I think we've had enough action for today, right guys?"

A sound of agreement rose from the other men, and Michael settled a little, falling into his thoughts as they all got back into the car. His blood felt like it was boiling, the fight scenes had riled him up more than he expected, but he could tell that his response to the movie might not have been typical. So he tried to settle down, ignoring the aching feeling in his hands and the memories flooding his mind.

\--

  
Roughhousing became a thing with their group since the very start, mainly with Geoff and Gavin or Gavin and Ray. So naturally, once Michael had become comfortable in the relationship, he was pulled into the playfighting by Gavin too. He was a natural at it, obviously, flipping Gavin onto his back and pinning his arms back with ease. Normally he played nice as he could, but when the younger man started with him when they got back from the movie, Michael had lost himself a bit.

Gavin squawking out his name in a terrified voice and Geoff pulling him off brought him back to what he was doing. His throat tightened as he noticed he'd gripped Gavin far too tightly, his arm red and marked with where his nails had dug in.

"S-Sorry Gav! Didn't realize I was holding on so tight."

He let out an uncomfortable little laugh, his face clearly apologetic and the other men let it go, Geoff heading back into the kitchen and Gavin wandering off to find Ray. Neither man noticed the troubled look on Michael's face, or the way his hands kept balling into fists.

\--

He'd kept it together as best he could for a while now, but it was starting to really get to him. These urges kept surging up, the urge to punch and kick and hurt. The urge to see someone else's blood on his knuckles. It'd been a week since they'd gone to see the movie that rekindled his old feelings, and it'd been a week since Michael had really felt okay again. He'd pulled away from the group slightly, far less touchy than he'd been in fear that he might hurt one of them. None of them seemed to really notice, and when one night Michael snuck from the bed to go out, they were all nonethewiser.

His mind was racing, hurriedly pulling on some clothes and shoes and sneaking out, locking the door behind him and heading to the closest bar he could remember. It took a couple drinks and about half an hour before he found himself picking a fight with someone outside of the bar. The man was a head taller and looked more muscular, but Michael could tell he'd never been in a proper fight just from his stance.

Things went blurry and the next thing he knew Michael was standing over the other man's body, the stranger out cold. His lip was busted and his knuckles felt raw and bloody, and the only thing he could feel was utter satisfaction. He felt like himself again, the self that he'd left behind in Jersey, the self that had been laying dormant since he'd tried to start over but now he was back, albeit with much better judgement than he once had.

"Sorry dude, I just needed the distraction..."

He mumbled to the unconscious man, guilt prickling at the back of his mind, backing away and running off. Heading back home, he cleaned himself up as best he could before getting back into bed, playing off his busted lip in the morning by saying he'd fallen out of bed in the middle of the night.

\--

And so it started. Once a week, when he found the chance to slip away during the night, Michael would escape and walk to one of the few bars within walking distance and pick a fight. Never someone smaller than him, usually he'd sit and wait for someone who deserved a good asskicking to show their face. Whether it was a skeevy guy harrassing girls in a futile attempt at picking them up, or a guy who was clearly gunning to get in a fight to begin with.

Sometimes the other guy would get a few good hits in, but Michael always prevailed, walking away with his urges quelled and his knuckles bloodied. It went on for a little while like that, and Michael thought he'd been doing pretty good hiding it, minus the obvious injuries he'd been starting to get, but it was clear that something was up. None of the men wanted to confront him without any proof though, so they waited for the most opportune moment.

It happened a few nights later, Michael slipping out in the middle of the night and heading out to a bar. It was easy to pick his 'sparring partner' that night, a douchey college kid with a snapback was leering over two women at the bar, who were clearly not interested in his company.

"Hey, asshole, leave the girls alone."

The man turned around, puffing up his chest and scowling at Michael, who only came up to about his chest and didn't look especially threatening.

"And if I don't? Whatcha gonna do about it?"

Michael grinned.

"Come outside and I'll show you."

It was more than enough to get the college guy riled up to show his dominance, the two heading outside and into the alley on the side of the bar. The college dude threw the first punch, Michael ducking it easily and countering with one of his own. It wasn't as easy as some he had, which Michael actually appreciated. It was even better with someone who knew what they were doing. Still he prevailed, chest heaving from exertion as he knocked the man to the ground. His lip was cut at a corner and he could feel parts of him aching from what would soon turn into bruises. The college guy clambered to his feet, a hand clutching his gut as he pushed past Michael and ran off.

Michael turned to watch him and froze in place as he saw his five lovers standing at the sidewalk with gaping looks. Panting quietly, he wiped at the blood he felt trickling down his chin and smiled a little, knowing there was no way to get out of this.

"Hey."

They'd never seen him fight before, not like that. All fury, no reasoning, just flying fists and quick feet. Geoff looked especially somber, swallowing the words that really wanted to escape and just saying in a quiet voice, 'let's go home', Michael obeying and following the rest of them the couple blocks back home. Everyone was quiet, even Gavin who clearly was trying very hard to not be the one to break the silence. Jack motioned for Michael to sit down at the kitchen table, which he did. He returned with the first aid kit, cleaning up the little marks on Michael's face and putting a bandaid over the cut by his lip, kissing it and then Michael.

The younger man returned it lovingly, and the other men who'd been hovering around seemed to relax tenfold, at least one of their worries quelled by the fact that Michael seemed to still care for them as they did him.

"Michael, can... can we talk about what you were doing?"

Jack asks, his voice barely above a whisper as though anything louder might set him off. Michael shrugged, eyes cast down at his hands which were clasped together, fingers brushing over the little nicks and scabs he'd recently left on them from his fighting.

"D-Depends, I guess. You guys gonna judge me for what I was doing?"

A flurry of no's were the response, everyone sitting down at the table and waiting patiently for Michael to explain himself. It took a couple minutes of stopping and starting before he could get himself to properly talk.

"Ever... Ever since we saw that movie I just started remembering what I used to be like. I've been so preoccupied with you guys and moving to Austin I just haven't really had the time to think about myself much and it made me remember that it wasn't like... it wasn't like I disliked who I used to be. I mean, some of it yeah, but I remembered like how good I was at fighting, and how much I like it. The first time I snuck out and punched the fucking lights outta some asshole a few weeks ago? That was the first time I felt so... so right ever since leaving Jersey."

They were all quiet, trying to understand how Michael was feeling, all of them afraid to upset him with questioning. Ryan spoke up.

"So... let me just be sure I've understood this right. You've been sneaking out at night to get in bar fights because you miss the feeling of winning a fight and it helps you feel better."

"Pretty much, I guess."

"Michael, you didn't have to hide how you were feeling from us, even if we didn't get it, which I'm pretty sure we all do, we would've tried to for you."

"I just didn't want you to think I was fucked up or something, I know it's not normal to want to just go around getting into fights and punching people all the time."

"Well, for some people it is."

Geoff said casually, Michael's eyes flickering up towards him with confusion. Geoff smiled a little.

"Michael, do you know what boxing is?"

\--

Michael stared daggers at the man standing in front of him, both of them stanced for fighting and slowly moving in a circle, each waiting for the other to make the first strike. His body was shaking slightly, breath a bit ragged and a thin layer of sweat coating every bit of bare skin on him. The man moved first, going in for a straight right to the jaw but Michael cut him off, responding with a swift left uppercut that sent the other sailing backwards and onto the floor.

He barely registered someone talking, staring as the man struggled to get back up, body refusing to listen.

"Nine.... Ten!"

Someone was holding up one of his arms and he remembered where he was. Pulling away when the referee let go, Michael pulled off his boxing gloves and tossed them to the floor, taking off his headgear and spitting his mouthguard into a hand, offering the other one to the man who he'd been sparring just moments ago. He took it, Michael helping him up and clapping him on the back, grinning brightly.

"Good fight, almost got me with that last straight."

"Should have known better than to use my right, you love those left hits after all."

The man said, grinning also as he pulled off his own gear. Michael looked around, still panting a little as he slipped between the ropes and hopped down from the ring, eyes wandering around and watching the other men who were still practicing.

"Michael!"

He turned, smiling brightly as his five lovers walked in, all looking rather happy to see him, except for Gavin.

"Aww what?! You're done already? I told them to hurry it up, I wanted to get here before you finished!"

The Brit whined, Michael laughing a little.

"Sorry Gav, I'm just too good today, I'll try to make it last longer next time."

"Whatever you say, 'Rocky'. You about ready to go?"

Geoff asked, ruffling Michael's damp curls and giving him a gentle look. Michael nodded, his hand cupping Geoff's as it trailed from his head to his cheek, smiling up at the older man and sharing a quick kiss.

"Lemme grab my shit, I'll shower at home."

"You better, you smell like ass."

Ray mumbled, Michael snickering and pulling the other close, the younger man scrambling to get out of his grasp.

"You know you love it! Alright, alright, I'll be right back."

Michael let him go, jogging off to the locker room and leaving the five men to wait for him. They all shared a content look, the group happier than they'd ever been.

"Boxing was such a good idea, he's really getting into it now. I haven't seen him sneak out since the time we caught him, either."

Jack declared, the group murmuring agreements. They watched as Michael came back out from the locker room, gym bag slung over a shoulder and a bright smile on his face as he headed back towards them. Geoff sighed happily at the heartwarming sight, still utterly thankful that his suggestion had helped Michael feel better.

"He was getting restless living with us, makes sense when I think about it now. He just needed a good distraction."


End file.
